‘Reckless’ plans a backward step

Government plans to scrap gender pay gap reporting requirements on smaller businesses will “turn the clock back for women at work”, according to TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady.

Former prime minister Liz Truss announced her intention to exempt tens of thousands of employers from reporting obligations at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham as part of what she called a “sweeping package of reforms to cut red tape”.

Currently, all businesses with more than 250 employees need to report gender pay gap figures and executive pay ratios. The government wants to increase that threshold to 500 immediately (and potentially to 1,000 in the future), meaning an additional 40,000 businesses will be exempt.

The changes represent “real threats to workers” according to O’Grady, who called the moves “reckless and cynical deregulation being pushed through with no consultation and no real thought for the impacts on working people”. “Obligations on businesses, put in place to help improve the lives of working people, are set to disappear overnight,” she said. “Scrapping gender pay gap reporting risks turning the clock back for women at work.”